Page 66 of Duty and Desire
She had her back to him, but she lifted an arm his way, straight out, palm up, and ordered, “Give me a sec. I’ll get it together.”
She should come apart. Sometimes people needed to do that so they could put it back together stronger.
But fuck him, his hands actuallyitchedto reach out and pull her to him so she could feel he was a big guy, strong, solid, and he had her.
He couldn’t do that, so he did the only thing he could.
“You know it’s okay to be freaked by this guy,” he educated her. “He’s a freak.”
“I don’t get freaked easily,” she returned.
He could sense that about her.
But this was new territory for her.
Not for him. For Hawk. Jorge. Probably even Smithie.
Fanatics were the worst. It didn’t matter if they were that about the Broncos or their God who would not be down in any way with their behavior, they’d just convinced themselves they were doing righteous work.
If there wasn’t more meaning to your life than football or acting out your twisted version of what you thought God wanted you to do, you had a serious problem.
She turned to him, hands now to the belt on her robe, tugging it tighter.
But Mo wasn’t watching her hands.
He was staring at her face.
And he arrested.
Nope.
Thiswas his worst fear.
For always.
Terror was stark in her expression, big hazel eyes filled with tears.
“My sister covered me with her body,” she said.
That wasn’t what he expected to hear.
“What?” he asked.
“Jet, when we were shot at, or in the room where people were shooting at each other, my sister was there too. And when the bullets were flying, she covered me with her body,” she explained.
Mo needed a minute.
She was in a roomwith people shooting at each otherand her sister had tocover her with her body?
“Jet and Mom…Jet and Mom…” A fat tear fell from her eye. “Jet and Mom would lose their minds if they knew this was happening. And Mom barely survived her first stroke.”
“When were you shot at?”
It was him that asked the question, but he didn’t recognize his own voice. It sounded low and gritty and like it crawled up his throat straight from the acid in his gut.
“My dad was a gambler. He’s recovering. And my sister had made some dude unhappy by jumping him at an Einstein’s. We went to confront Dad gambling and…”
She kept talking but it was then Mo remembered her sister was a Rock Chick.
